


the hands that hold you

by dogsbreath



Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e10 Ties That Bind, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Character Death, Team as Family, Time travel (kinda), episode: s02x11 Fallout
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25428526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogsbreath/pseuds/dogsbreath
Summary: Everyones born with distinctive marks on their body that represent your soulmate(s).Scola has three marks on the back of his left ankle. A sleek black gun, a vibrant pink flower, and a shiny golden star.
Relationships: Maggie Bell & Kristen Chazal, Maggie Bell & OA Zidan, OA Zidan & Kristen Chazal, OA Zidan & Stuart Scola, Stuart Scola & Kristen Chazal, Stuart Scola & Maggie Bell
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	1. one.

**Author's Note:**

> there is referenced child abuse, vomiting, and a plethora of other things that can trigger someone, so if you’re sensitive to that, tread carefully !!!!

Everyones born with distinctive marks on their body that represent your soulmate(s). 

They represent your soul family, who essentially become your siblings, if you’re not dating them. The colourful marks can usually be hidden by clothes, but there are some spots where it’s harder to hide them. People who have soul bonded with their soulmates say that soulmates take on traits of the elements depending on what they’re needed for. Some are warm and protective, airy and light, steady and grounding, cool and soothing

Scola has three marks on the back of his left ankle. A sleek black gun, a vibrant pink flower, and a shiny golden star. 

He sees his uncle's marks and asks his mom about them. She tells him the stories, and when he shows her his, she smiles wetly, and makes him promise to never show his father. She tells him that his three soulmates are his family, even if he hasn’t met them yet. 

A week later, he ‘meets’ his first soulmate. He’s playing fetch with their dog, and throws the ball a little too far into the street. His dog, a golden retriever named Quincy, runs out to get it, and Stuart follows after him. He tries to take a step onto the road, but strong cool hands grab his shoulders. Stuart freezes, expecting his father, but when he turns around he sees nothing, even though the touch is still very much there. 

“Hello?” he asks quietly, looking over his shoulder. The hands only squeeze tighter, and Stuart remembers what his mom told him about his soulmates, how they can interact with you, warn you, protect you, or comfort you. And Stuart grins, “Soulmate!”

She, and he’ll never be able to tell you how he knows it's a she, he just does, reaches a hand up to ruffle his hair. It’s only when he heard the squeal of a car's brakes, and the high pitched whine come from Quincy that he remembers the ball. His soulmates hand never leaves his shoulder as he calls for his mom, too scared to even go near the unmoving body of his beloved childhood companion. 

He names her Shield, and his soulmate is a steady, strong, and protective presence in his life after that. She shows up when he’s in danger, warning him, guiding him from danger he knows, and sometimes doesn’t know is there. She’s his personal protector. 

\-----

His dad moves them from the bronx to wall street when he’s thirteen. Alexandra’s five, and Doug’s 18. Alex doesn’t even go to his school, and Doug doesn’t get the title of ‘new kid’, having graduated, like Stuart gets in his middle school. He steps foot into his new school and immediately becomes an outcast, a brand new punching bag for kids to toss creative and hurtful words and hard punches at. 

He gets a black eye, and when he gets home, he tells his parents that he banged his head into his desk, and they leave it at that. That night, when he's face down on his bed, making damn sure to hide the tears falling down his face. A hand touches his back, thumb rubbing his shoulder blade soothingly. It’s one of his soulmates, and at first he mistakes her for Shield. 

“Go away, Shield, I’m fine.” He groans, turning away from her. A hand swats at his head and Stuart huffs, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“Shield?” he asks. There’s a tap on his shoulder, and Stuart pulls his left foot up and takes his sock off. He wipes his nose with the back of his hand, and twists his foot so that his marks are visible. She touches the flower, and he smiles.

“You’re new.” he mumbles, and then there's arms wrapping around him, and his shoulders sag. She hugs him until he falls asleep. 

He names her Pillar, and she’s the one who stays around the most often. She hovers in school, laying a steadying hand on his shoulder, and keeps him company at lunch. She’s there to keep his mind from wandering too far into itself, to point out fun things to do, to keep him occupied and carefree as best she can. She’s there when he gets yelled at for talking back, when he gets insults thrown at him from his bullies, when his father won’t give him the time of day. 

She’s right there, along with Shield, and another one he hasn’t met, at his moms funeral. Pillar’s hand was on his right shoulder, Shield’s was on his left, and two warm hands he'd never felt before rest on his neck, thumbs applying a comforting pressure. 

\-----

He’s fourteen when his mom dies, and he loses the only friend he’d ever had. He’s fourteen when his dad first raises a hand to him, and fourteen when he meets his third soulmate. 

His third soulmate is warm. Radiates a comforting heat like a fireplace. Stuarts takes the brunt of the hits for his sister, and everytime he lands on the floor, his soulmate’s there, trying to pull him up. The brunt of the abuse, both physical and verbal, land on him, but his soulmate is there everytime to sooth the weight of the abuse, to remind him to eat and sleep and stay alive. 

After a particularly bad beating, his soulmate pulled him up to his feet, and urged him to his room with a hand on his back. Stuart doesn’t make it to his bed, legs giving out from underneath him. His soulmate falls with him, hands on his arms. 

“You’re the star.” He stated, closing his eyes.

An affirmative squeeze is what he’s met with, and the heat encompases his entire left side as Sun leans against him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. Another hand landed on his throbbing cheek, cold and soothing to the touch, and Shield did her best to help his injuries. A hand landed on his right one, and Pillar sat down on his other side. He shut his eyes as Shield knelt in front of him. 

“Love you guys.” he murmurs, feeling safe in his own home for the first time in months. 

The next day, he creates a way for them to communicate with him. Creates a pattern they can use to tap out words like ‘danger’, ‘safe’, ‘i’m here’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘eat’, ‘drink’, ‘sleep’, and a few more generic phrases. 

\-----

When he's sixteen, his brother dies in 9/11, and Stuarts left to pick up the broken pieces of what's left of his family. Pillar and Sun are the two he sees the most after that. Pillars is a pillar of support, doing what he named her after, and Sun is the warm presence he needs to get back up. 

\-----

When he graduates, it’s not his fathers hands he leans into. It’s Shield, Pillar, and Suns.

\-----

He follows in his fathers footsteps, becomes a prominent figure on wall street all by himself. He doesn’t need to lean on his soulmates as much as he did as a kid, but he still takes comfort in Sun’s warmth at his back, or Pillar’s supportive brush against his shoulder. 

\----- 

He’s twenty when he first decides to never show anyone his soul marks. He’s in on a big deal with the guy who owns four businesses on wall street alone. Stuart wouldn’t exactly call him a business man; he lacks the charisma and charm. Stuart would call him the leader of the cartel who owns wall street, if the tattoos he tries so desperately to hide are any indication. 

He brings Scola with him to an industrial neighbourhood, and when he leads him into the shipping container. Sun and Shield’s presence had had a sense of skepticism the entire drive over, and when he steps foot over the threshold of the container, he feels both of them tap out ‘danger’. He knows by now, that he really should listen to them, but he’s intrigued, so he ignores them.

When he sees the person tied to the chair, he feels Sun pull on his arm, tugging him backwards towards the door. Scola feels dread rise in his throat, as Shield taps out a ‘no’ and then ‘safe’. 

“Wait,” he murmurs, pulling his arm out of Suns grip. Shield taps out a rushed ‘no’, and he shrugs her off. The guy looks back at him when he speaks, and squints when he sees Staurt pull his arm away from nothing. 

“What are we doing here?” Stuart asks, looking around, the urgency of his soulmates making him more and more skeptical. 

“We are about to close our deal, good friend.” The man tells him, slapping him on the back. He feels the intensity of Sun’s presence, and warmth surrounds him, like the man is trying to physically move the hand from his back with sheer heat. The hand does move, and he gets a sideways glance as the man shakes his hand off. 

There's the sound of something getting torn, and a muffled scream that makes Stuart move forward. He sees a woman tied to a chair, and he takes another step forward. Sun is still trying to get him to leave, and Shield’s hand in now on his chest, keeping him in place.

He watches, feels disgust and fear lodge in his throat as he watches the man torture this woman, their opponents fucking _soulmate_ to get what he wants. To sign the deal that Stuart himself wrote up. He can’t watch the torture, and turns away, leans his head against the warmth of Sun, while Shield watches his back. 

Slowly, Sun taps out a ‘i’m here’ on his shoulder. Stuart has to swallow against the bile rising in his throat as he hears their opponent agree, his desperation and fear palpable in his voice.

And just like that, it’s over, and Scola leaves as fast as he can. He doesn’t even make it to his car before he’s got his hands on his knees and bile falling from his lips. There’s Sun’s steady warmth on one side, and Shield’s soothing cold on the other, as her hands run through his hair and his rub his back. He takes a breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“I’m okay,” he tells them, breathing deeply, waiting to see if he was going to throw anything else up. He doesn’t. 

When he’s standing back up, Sun slaps him upside the head. Scola jumps, and huffs. 

“I know, I know, I should’ve left when you guys told me to. I’m sorry.” He apologizes, sighing. Shield’s cool hand runs over the spot Sun had slapped. 

When he gets home, Shield and Sun are nowhere to be seen, but he feels the familiar touch of Pillar on his arm. He’s on his computer, when she touches his arm, grabs it and pulls, like she’s trying to get him to do something. He lets her, and watches as she uses his finger to type out “FBI academy, quantico” into his search bar. 

“You want me to tell the FBI?” he asks. He wonders how she knows, because he doesn’t remember her being there in the container. She taps out a ‘no’, and he tries again. 

“You want me to join the FBI academy?” 

_yes_

“why?” 

_safe_

he breathed out a sigh, and debated it. After today, he really doesn’t think he could stomach even looking at another brokered deal without hearing the poor woman’s scream echo in his head. He applies for the next semester. 

\-----

His father blows up at him when he tells him he enrolled in the FBI academy. Yells, and glares, and tells him he’s a disappointment. Stuart takes it all, lets the insults bounce off the armour he’s built to resist them, until the man raises his hand. Sun does his best to warn him, tugs at his shirt to avoid the brunt of the punch, but it still snags his lip. 

when he gets home, he sinks into the presence of all three of his soulmates. 

\-----

He goes through the classroom part of the academy just fine. Gets good grades, passes every test and challenge his teachers throw at him. Pillar is there, too, but the most she does now is pinch or flick him to keep him awake during mornings, and to remind him he needs to sleep and eat if he intends to pass. 

the physical part of the academy, the training, goes fine too, the smooth road only interrupted by a few bumps and potholes. Sun stays with him then, pulling him back to his feet when he falls down, and to remind him to push back, that he can do better, because Sun knows he can. 

When he graduates, and gets assigned to a field office twenty minutes away from his house, he can feel the pride coming from all three of his soulmates. 

\-----

“Nails. Razors. Ball bearings. I’m shocked it was so potent. This is really just a crude, unsophisticated, lethal mess.” A man says, leaning over a woman, his new partner, Kristen Chazal. 

“If she’s also an instagram model from atlanta with a turtle tattoo at the nape of her neck, then you literally just described my ex-girlfriend.” 

The two of them look up when he interjects, and he smiles, feels the slight push on his rush shoulder from Sun, before his warmth disappears all together. 

“thanks for intel…?” Kristen says, eyebrows furrowed together. 

“Stuart Scola. Your new partner.” He introduces, reaching for her hand to shake with a nod. Her eyes go wide and her mouth drops open slightly as she makes to stand. 

“Oh good, you’ve already met. Stuart, what’s up? good to see you.” Jubal intervenes, shaking his hand. Stuart smiles. 

“Yeah, good to see you too.” 

“Stuart and I crossed paths on a case in Boston, what, five years ago?” Jubal asks, looking at him. Stuart shrugs. 

“Appreciate the call, y'know. I’ve been meaning to get back to New York for a while.” 

“Glad it worked out.” 

“Now this,” he says, breathing on the badge in his hand and shining it with his shirt, smiling proudly down at Kristen, handing it to her, “This is for you.” 

“Oh wow,” she takes the badge gingerly, looking down at it with a smile, “It’s really official.”

Jubal hums, nodding, tapping his finger against his hip. “And the celebration is complete. We need you in Astoria, boots on the ground at a crime scene, yeah?”

Kristen stands, and nods, “Okay.” She falls into step next to Stuart. 

“Hey Kris,” Jubal calls. Kristen turns around, and Jubal walks up to her. “Yknow, now that you’re an actual agent, you should probably bring your gun.” 

Kristen nods, and Stuart can feel the embarrassment come off her. “Yeah.” 

She opens her drawer and pulls it out, falling back into step with Scola as she secures it to her belt. 

….

“Your building has several security camera facing south, we’d love to review that video.” Kristen says, and stuart eyes the man putting out the garbage. 

“you got a search warrant?” He asks, testy and defensive. 

Kristen smiles forcibly, “We can certainly get one. But, we’d rather not waste all that time.”

The man huffs, crossing his arms. “Right. Because the FBI cares so much about Muslims.” 

“Excuse me?” Kristen asks. 

“You spend half your time hiding out in our communities, hiding out trying to entrap us, turn us into these evil terrorists you really think we are.” 

“look, we’re just trying to help here.”

“help? help out how? by kicking down our doors? or spying on our mosques? you harass and belittle us for no reason whatsoever-”

“i gotta disagree with you on the no reason whatsoever thing.” Stuart says, finally intervening. “I mean, let’s face it. there’s a reason that our scrutiny of this community has increased.” 

“oh here we go again with this 9/11 talk. those men were terrorists! they don’t speak for real muslims.”

“and anyone on this earth with half a brain knows that to be true. See, what i’m saying is that it happened. and i know it happened, man, because my brother died that day.” he interrupted. At the mention of his brother, the familiar touch of Pillar grabs his hand, and he takes a deep breath. 

He feels kristen look at him in confusion, but keeps his eyes on the guy he’s talking to, and continues talking. “he was having breakfast on the top floor, selling muni bonds to some guy from London names Howard Betts.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the man apologizes. Stuart feels the comforting weight of Pillar’s hands, and steps forward. 

“Look, sir, all we want to do is nail the dude that blew up that restaurant and killed that young woman. So, we'd really love to see that surveillance video.”

“okay. come with me.” 

Stuart looks back at Kristen as the man takes a few steps away from them. 

“Hey,” she says, reaching a hand out to stop him from moving. “I’m sorry about your brother.” 

“Don’t be. Made it up.” He lies, forcing a grin and shrugging, as he follows the man inside. 

\-----

Kristens is a good partner, if not a bit green, and he enjoys being her friend, enjoys being Maggie and OA’s friend. They remind him of his soulmates, and it only takes a week to find out why. 

He comes in early, and finds OA changing in the locker room. “Hey,” he greets, opening his locker. 

OA turns towards him, and he sees the three marks on OA’s chest. Two of them match the ones on his ankle; A pink flower, and a sleek black gun. There’s a dollar bill next to them, and he thinks that is a very fitting symbol for him. OA’s flaunting them proudly, not even bothering to hide them, and Stuart doesn’t know what scares him more; knowing, or the fact that, with their job, he could very well lose his soulmates before they even know it’s him. 

“I’ve met two of them.” OA states, pulling on a dress shirt. Stuart nods, smiling, “Yeah?” 

OA leans against the locker next to him, looking at him. “How many do you have?” he asks suddenly, looking at him curiously. Stuart freezes, and OA curses. 

“Shit, man, that was so fucking intrusive, i’m sorry. you don’t have to answer.” He apologizes, and Stuart breathes out a sigh and shakes his head. 

“No, no, it’s.. it’s okay. I’ve never told anyone but my mother about them.” He admits, putting his ID over his neck and shutting his locker. “I have three. I’ve never met them.” 

OA studies him, and Stuart hums, shoving his hands in his pocket. “Ask it, i know you want to.” 

“Do you plan on meeting them at all?” he asks, and Stuart shrugs. 

“I don’t know, maybe. There are some people I’ve pissed off that i don’t want knowing about them. It’s… better, for now, that they don’t know me.”

“Oh..” Is all OA says, and they lapse into an awkward silence. 

“Hey guys!” Maggie greets, walking in. She’s got two coffees in a tray, and she hands them to them. OA smiles, and Stuart grins. 

\-----

A Month into him working with his soulmates, and he only sees Maggie catch the bullet to the vest because Shield had forcibly turned him to face her. 

he calls out her name the same time OA and Kristen do, and Stuart doesn’t think he’s ever run so fast. He skids onto the pavement, kneeling next to her as she hits the ground. His knees burn, and so does his chest, but she’s coughing and cursing and alive. 

Kris kneels next to them, and he can hear OA tackle the guy to the ground, Maggie looks up at Kris, and then looks at him, “Thanks,” she wheezes. 

“no problem.” 

His knees are banged up for weeks after that, and he has to throw out his favourite pair of pants because the pavement ripped two holes in his knees. 

\-----

Everything goes smoothly until Kris gets stabbed in the neck by the kid. His soulmates are quiet, silent aside from the occasional touch or push in the right direction. He goes out for lunch with OA every few days, hangs out with Kris outside of work, and spars with Maggie. He feels a little guilty, because they’re still looking for their fourth, and he knows it’s him, he’s just too afraid to tell them. 

Everytime he tries, he hears the woman from the container scream, and remembers that it was him who brokered that deal, and it was him who let that happen. He remembers he’s got a few enemies who would jump at the chance to knife up his soulmates just to get back at him. 

Scola’s got his gun up, standing a few feet away from where Maggie was talking to the guy, and he feels Kris jump forwards before he hears her shout Maggie’s name. 

OA and Maggie call out her name, but Scola’s the one who moves forwards, feeling sick at the sight of the knife sliding through the skin of her neck and then back out. He catches her as he stumbles back, a hand moving up to her neck to stem the bleeding. She grabs his hand. 

Her eyes are wide, scared, and he’s reminded just how green she is, how new and fresh and _good_ she is. 

“Sc-“ 

“shh, no, don’t talk, you’re gonna be fine,” he tells her, even as he feels fear twist in his stomach at the sheer amount of blood coming from her neck. 

Her hand doesn’t leave his arm until the paramedics get there, and he doesn’t remove his hand until she’s in the operating table, and then he’s escorted out. 

The raw fear of death in her eyes as she was put under will haunt him for the rest of his life 

He sees Maggie, OA, Jubal, and Isobel behind the doors, and Stuart feels a sharp pain in his left ankle. He pauses, resting his arm on the wall. He hears Maggie sob, can vaguely see her reach for her ear and OA for his chest, where he knows their soul marks are. He grabs at his ankle, and hisses. He doesn’t need to look at them to know that Kris’s usually vibrant pink is fading and flickering. 

….

Isobel tells them to go home, but Maggie won’t budge. So OA takes him and they head back to the office to get her a change of clothes. In the car, it takes everything in him to not fall apart. 

Halfway through the drive, he looks down at his hands, and there’s so much dried blood on them he feels bile rise in his throat. He swallows against it, but when he closes his eyes, he sees Kris and the fear and the knife in her neck, and the scream that haunts him morphes into one he recognizes. 

He doesn’t realize he’s hyperventilating, or that OA’s pulled over, until two hands land on his arms. They’re warm, warm enough that, for a brief second, he thinks Sun is the one kneeling in front of him. But he’s not, because OA’s looking at him concerned, hands resting on his arms, looking at him intently. 

He takes a deep breath repeatedly, until he can get through a full one without stuttering through it, and when his eyes clear, and he’s able to say something, the only thing he can muster is a “thanks.” 

….

The locker room is quiet. Scola’s scrubbing the blood of his hands, has been for ten minutes, and OA is getting Maggie’s change of clothes. 

He dries his hands off and turns the water off, turning to face OA. the man is looking at him intently, arms crossed, as Stuart shrugs out of his shirt and grabs a new one from his locker. 

Kris’s blood is on everything. His pants. His shirt. His shoes.

OA stops him before he can put on his jeans, his breath leaving him as he spots his ankle. Scola tries to move but OA won’t let him. The warmth and the spark of electricity that runs from OA to him when he touches his mark is strong, and OA stands back up. 

“You knew.” He states, looking at him with disbelief in his eyes. Stuart sighs. “You said you hadn’t met them. you lied to me.” 

“I was trying to protect you guys.” Stuart tells him, “Really, I was. the things i’ve seen people do to soulmates just to get what they want… I didn't want to put you in danger.” 

“Kris is bleeding out on the operating table right now.” 

“I know! Just because i didn’t tell you doesn’t mean i was right in the decision not to.” 

OA looks at him, “I’m mad at you. I’m so mad at you.”

“But i don’t have the energy to be angry, and I won’t, until Kris makes it out of this.” 

Stuart nods. And OA shrugs, “Besides. I need to see Maggie yell at you when you tell her.” 

Stuart freezes, before nodding, “Yeah, i guess that’s fair.”


	2. two.

OA still looks mad when they get back to the hospital, and that's what Maggie zeros in on. 

“What’s wrong?” She asks, looking between them, “Did something happen?”

OA coughs, looking pointedly at Stuart. “Scola has something to tell you.” 

“What?” she asks, looking at him now. Stuart sighs, and swallows past the nerves in his throat. He steps towards her, and lifts a hand up to her ear. She tenses as he nears her soul marks, and Stuart touches the dollar bill. He feels the same spark he felt when OA touched his, and from the way Maggie tensed up, he knows she figured it out. 

She reaches up and punches his chest, hard enough to steal his breath, but with no real force behind it. She looks close to tears, and that alone makes Stuart regret not telling them. She looks from Stuart to OA. 

“You’re our fourth.” She breathes. OA shifts, crossing his arm. 

“Mags,” He says, “He knew.” 

Maggie snaps her head back to him. “You fucking knew?!” 

Stuart looks around, eyeing the nurse who looked up at Maggie’s outburst. He lays a hand on her shoulder, and counts it as a win she doesn't shrug him off. 

“Yes, i knew.” He admits, biting his bottom lip. Maggie looks at him, hurt in her eyes. 

“So why didn’t you tell us? Do you not want us, or something?” she asks. Stuart shakes his head. 

“No, no, god no, that’s not the reason, that would never be a reason.” He assures her. 

“Then why?” she asks quietly, and Stuart loathes the fact that he’s the cause of the tears in her eyes. 

“I was trying to protect you.” He tells her. “And that sounds like a cop out, but it’s not. The things i’ve seen done to soulmates for something as little as a business deal, Mags, I… I couldn’t let that ever be a possibility. I’ve pissed off a lot of people, and if you got hurt because of me? I’d never forgive myself.” 

“That doesn’t make it okay.” 

“I know. I’m sorry.” 

\-----

Kris has to go back into surgery, and Stuart feels sick. He’s with OA when Maggie calls and tells them. 

OA grabs his hand. 

\-----

They go back to work, and while Maggie and OA are still mad at him (he’d be mad at him too), they’re still more relaxed in his presence than anyone else’s. Sometimes Stuart wonders if Jubal knows, because he swears Jubal sends him looks with hidden meanings he can’t decipher. 

He comes in one morning, and finds a woman sitting at Kris’s desk. Jubal had told him he was getting a new temporary partner, but Stuart didn’t think she’d have the balls to sit at Kris’s desk. 

He’s still standing in the door of the joc when he feels OA behind him. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks. Stuart looks over at him, nodding to Kris’s desk. 

OA starts towards her with the look of a man on a mission but Stuart reaches forward and grabs his jacket. He pulls him back. 

“Easy, Rambo,” he hisses. OA looks at him. 

“she’s at Kris's desk.” 

“because she probably doesn’t know.” 

OA relaxes a little, and takes a deep breath. Stuart leads him to their desk, and when OA drops his coat onto his chair with unnecessary force, the woman looks up. 

She looks from OA to Stuart, before reaching a hand out. “Hi! I’m Emily Ryder.” 

Stuart shakes her hand, smiling at her. OA follows his lead. They’re saved from awkward small talk by Jubal, who interrupts. 

“Where’s Maggie?” 

“Visiting Kris.” 

“Okay,” Jubal sighed. He looked between the three of them. “Scola, you and OA have a case. I’ll fill Maggie in when she gets here. I’ll have Kris text-“

OA and Stuart share a look and Jubal coughs. 

“Right, uh, I’ll have Ian send you the address.” 

….

“I miss her.” Stuart says. OA looks over at him from the drivers seat. 

“Me too.” 

\-----

Their case leads them to a gang war involving the same gang that made him become an FBI agent. Stuart feels nauseous when Jubal pulls the man's face up on the screen. 

“Peter Raymon. Also known as ‘killer’, which isn’t exactly the scariest name out there.” Jubal tells them. Stuart goes pale. 

“It fits.” He mutters. 

“You know this guy?” OA asks. Stuart nods, “Yeah, I brokered a deal with him before I left wall street.” 

He doesn’t mention the fact that Raymon is the very reason why he never told them about his marks. Doesn’t think he could without hearing the morphed screams echo in his head. 

Maggie and OA are sent to Killer’s house, and that alone sends a spike of fear roaring through him, and he reaches out a hand to grab OA’s elbow, looking over at him. 

Jubal eyes them, but doesn’t say anything, just leaves them to it and turns to Ian. OA’s looking at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“i..” Stuart starts, before looking around. He nudged OA towards the elevator, and once they’re standing in it alone, Stuart pulls the emergency stop button. 

“What’s wrong?” He asks. 

“Be careful.” is all he says, is all he can say without feeling like he's going to vomit. the thought of him or maggie even interacting with Killer makes his stomach churn and a voice in him scream protect! protect! protect!

“I can do my job, Scola, we’re capable.” He says, and Stuart shakes his head. 

“No, that’s not what i meant. I mean be careful, because this guy may have a cliche name, but he’s earned it, OA.” 

OA looks at him carefully for a moment, before something makes him soften. Maybe it’s the nervous way Scola’s tapping on his palm, or the sheer _fear_ he feels radiating off the man. He reaches out, and lays a hand on his shoulder, almost pulling him in for a hug, but deciding against it, resulting in a stuttered squeeze. It seems to calm him all the same, and OA nods. 

“I don’t know what he did, to make you so afraid of us talking to him, but we’ll be careful, Scola, i promise.” He says. 

“thank you.”

….

OA picks up Maggie at the hospital, and Stuart takes her place at Kris’s bedside. 

Kris looks like shit, and that’s really the only thing that Stuart can say about it. There’s a bloody white bandage taped to her neck, and it contrasted enough against her skin that Stuart felt sick. She shouldn’t even be here. Her first month on the job, first month as a field agent, and her own partner had failed to protect her. 

Maybe if he’d been fast enough, seen it quicker, reacted quicker, it would be him in the hospital bed, and not Kris. His partner, his best friend, his soulmate. 

He sighs, and takes to pacing the floor next to her bedside, shrugging his jacket off and rolling up his sleeves. He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed. 

“Did OA eat all the jello cups again?” 

Kris’s hoarse and quiet voice made him turn, and he smiled at her softly, “Hey, Kris.” 

He walked towards her, and he laid his hand on her arm. “Hey,” she managed. She brought her hand up and laid on his arm, smiling briefly at him. 

Stuart wants to ask her if she’s okay, if she needs him to do anything or get a nurse or even just sit here with her, but all he manages is “I’m sorry.” 

Her eyebrows furrow, “What?” 

“I should’ve seen it coming, should’ve stopped it.” He says. Kris looks at him with the look she uses when she trying to tell him he’s being stupid. 

She goes to speak, but his phone dings, and when he looks at the text, all it says is Maggie and OA need backup.

He feels his stomach drop, hears the screaming echo in his head, and hurriedly texts back his ETA. 

“Scola?” Kris whispers, looking at him in worry. His heart is hammering, and he feels like he might vomit, and it must show on his face because she looks scared. 

“I’ll be back later.” he promises, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. 

“Be safe.” Kris rasp, and he nods, before leaving. 

He breaks too many road laws on his way to the address Jubal had sent him, but Maggie and OA are waiting for him outside when he gets there, so he counts it as a win that half the scenarios his brain had thought up on the drive there weren’t reality. 

“What happened?” He asks, looking both of them over. 

“We’re fine.” OA promises, looking at him pointedly. 

“We heard screaming from inside, figured it was safer to wait for backup then go in there by ourselves.” Maggie explained. 

The string of curses he let out would not have impressed his mother, because he knows exactly what’s going on inside that house, and it makes Maggie raise an eyebrow. He runs a hand through his hair, and looks at the house as another scream can be heard from inside. 

“Fuck,” he whispers, hand going to his gun. 

—

Raymon isn’t there, but Stuart’s dealt with a few of the people they end up arresting. They sneer at him, and Stuart glares back, hand resting on his gun. 

He follows them out, and when he meets up with OA and Maggie by the car, OA’s looking at him the same way he looks at Maggie when she does something stupid. 

“You want to tell us what the hell that was about?” He asks. 

“Nothing to worry about.” Stuart insists. 

OA laughs in disbelief, “Nothing to worry about..” 

Maggie lays a hand on OA’s shoulder and steps up, “We are worrying about that, because were your soul-“ 

Stuart leaps across the small distance and covers her mouth with his hand, eyes wide and glancing around. 

He prays to every god he can think of that Raymon’s men didn’t hear that as he glances at the cars they’re being put in, and only when the doors are shut does he let Maggie go. 

“What the hell was that about?” OA growls. Maggie looks hurt, and Stuart takes a deep breath, clutching the neck of his vest with one hand and stepping back. He glances at the cars once more, and even though they’re staring intently at him, he doesn’t think they heard anything. 

“Are you ashamed of us?” Maggie asks. Stuart whips his head around to face her, disbelief on his face. 

“What? No! No i’m not, Maggie.” 

“Then why do you keep avoiding using the words, why did you keep it from us for so long?” She asks. 

Stuart can’t bring himself to tell them, not here, not in the middle of this case. “It’s complicated.” He says. 

“Right.” OA says. 

Stuart can feel them shutting him out, and he sighs and heads back to his car. He sits in the drivers seat, and shakes his head. 

“You’re an idiot, Stuart.” He whispers to himself, banging his hand on. the steering wheel. 

He wipes his face with his hands, resting his forehead on the wheel. He wants to tell them, wants to say it out loud, the reason why he’s so cautious. He wants to be able to explain why he did it, that he was just protecting them, that he loved them so much. But he can’t, not when the threat of Raymon hurting Maggie and OA is very literally hanging over them. 

••••

He gets the cold shoulder from Maggie and OA, and radio silence from his soulmates, and he doesn’t know what’s worse. 

He steers clear from visiting Kris, mostly because he doesn’t want to face her, knowing that it’s more than likely they’ve told her about what he did, and he can’t handle Kris being mad at him, not with this. 

Jubal corners him in the break room after witnessing Maggie and OA’s icy behaviour towards him. Stuart sitting on the bench with his head in his hands when Jubal comes in. 

“Hey,” he greets. Stuart looks up, rubs his eyes, and nods. “Hey.” 

Jubal leans against the lockers, looking at him as he reloads his gun. “What happened out there?” 

“What are you talking about?” He asks. 

“I’m talking about you, OA and Maggie. They’re so cold to you that i can practically feel my breath fogging up.” 

“Nothing happened.” 

“I wouldn’t classify a ‘nothing’ as being able to come between three soulmates.” Jubal says. 

Stuart drops his gun into his locker, and snaps his head up to look at Jubal. “You know?” 

He only nods and Stuart curses. “Was it that obvious?” 

Jubal shrugs, “I knew the day you tore up your favourite pair of pants to get to Maggie after she got shot in the vest. I don’t know if anyone else knows.” 

Stuart’s quiet, so Jubal speaks. “What’s so bad about people knowing?” 

“Because i need to protect them, and i cant do that if everyone knows. Especially not during this case.” He answers. 

“I take it more than a deal was brokered between you and Raymon?” Jubal asks. Stuart shakes his head. 

“No, no, that was it. I haven’t seen him since i left wall street that night. He’s dangerous, and i don’t want him knowing about Maggie and OA.” 

“This sounds personal, Stuart.” 

Stuart thinks back to the scream, to the memory of anyone Raymon is associated with even looking in the direction of Maggie and OA, and sighs. “It’s technically not.” 

Jubal nods, “Well, i hope you know what you’re doing.” 

“Me too.” he whispers. 

“And don’t worry. You’re soulmates, they’ll come around once they understand.” 

“Yeah,” he whispers, letting Jubal squeeze his shoulder before leaving. 

••••

Maggie and OA take to interrogating Raymon’s second hand, while Stuart questioned the two victims they’d found. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Daniels?” he calls softly from the door of the hospital room. Both looked up. Mr Daniels was someone Stuart remembered to be a big figure in wall street. 

“yes?” Mr Daniels asks. Stuart hold out a hand to shake, and introduces himself. 

“I’m Agent Stuart Scola with the FBI, i’m-“

“Are you related to Charles Scola?” Mr. Daniels asks. Stuart sighs, and nods, “Yeah, that’s my dad.” 

“He’s a great business man. I didn’t know he had a son in the FBI.” He says. 

“Mr. Daniels, i was wondering if you could tell me about what happened this morning?” Stuart asks. 

“Oh, yes.” Mr. Daniels answers. 

••••

Stuart takes a minute to himself in the hallway after talking to the couple, holds his head in his hands, and lets himself feel the fear running through his veins. His stomachs doing backflips, and he feels like he could throw up, because the story they told him was almost the exact same as the night he was there to witness Raymon in action. 

The kidnapping, the torture, the leverage, god the _screaming_ he’d heard from outside, it all matched up exactly. 

He hears the echo of the scream he wishes he could forget, and takes off down the hall. He stops in the hallway he knows Kris is in, and leans against the wall at the end of it. He slides down the wall, and sits on the floor, head back in his hand. 

If it was someone else in his place, he’d make them tell Jubal or Isobel, and tell them to sit this case out. But it’s not someone else, it’s him, and he’d never forgive himself if he took himself off the case and something happened to OA or Maggie. 

He feels his hands shake, and takes a stuttering breath, trying to ignore the scream repeating in his ears. It doesn’t work, and he starts to shake even more, his own fear mixing with the fear held in the scream.

After a few minutes, his hands stop shaking, and the scream is quieter, and he can breathe properly. He stands, runs a hand through his hair, and wipes one over his face. He turns to leave, and finds OA leaving Kris’s room. He pauses, and watches as OA does too, looking at him with a guarded expression. 

Stuart takes a deep breath, and prays OA can’t see the redness around his eyes, and turns on his heel. He takes the stairs.

••••

He tells Jubal and Isobel about what Mr. Daniels told him. Jubal looks at him hard, eyeing him intensely. 

“Are you sure that’s everything?” He asks. Stuart nods. 

“That’s everything.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone say that you saf and riles for encouraging me to write this !!! 
> 
> @SAMLYMANS on twt 
> 
> (also i own nothing, cbs don’t fucking snipe me pls)


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